


Falling: A Memoir of Us

by Alyssa_Aroha



Category: Cravity (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Basketball, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:02:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23924302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alyssa_Aroha/pseuds/Alyssa_Aroha
Summary: When you told Woobin that he would fall in love, he wasn't surprised, he knew it would happen, at one point or another, as it goes.Woobin was like that - he knew things, accepted them as they were because they were bound to happen and he liked the closure of knowing.He didn't know he'd have his heart broken, shattered. Falling in love means the inevitable impact of hitting the ground.He didn't realise the pain that would follow, nor the bright eyed foxy boy who patched it up together when he himself was unwilling.
Relationships: Ahn Seongmin/Kang Minhee, Allen Ma/Seo Woobin, Koo Jungmo/Seo Woobin
Kudos: 30





	Falling: A Memoir of Us

In hindsight, it probably wasn’t the smartest decision Woobin could’ve made. Later, he’d claim that he wasn’t thinking rationally, that it was an impulse caused by the type of stress that makes you physically sick and your mouth heavy. But Seo Woobin’s very level-headedness, his ability to distance himself from a situation, was what he prided himself on. Especially after all those years of resolving quarrels between Seongmin and Hyeongjun.

Woobin sat at the long oak table in the musty library, a fantasy novel in his palm, ignoring the schoolwork situated before him. He couldn’t concentrate, not with the wound of a breakup still fresh in his mind. It happened over the holidays, a few weeks ago now, he’d already been back at school for a week, and had completed no homework. The book was a perfect form of escapism, but did little to stop his anxious eyes from shifting up towards the big glass doors whenever he saw a shadow pass by, terrified it could be him.

Muted, through the slightly opened doors, a voice.

His voice.

His body stiffened, his eyes widening as he looked through the doors, watching as Allen Ma walked past the room with his friends, laughing.

Time slowed as Woobin watched Allen’s softly sculpted face - the one he held in hands so many times - turn to the side, his nose bumping against skin as he kissed another boy’s cheek.

Woobin felt like he was going to throw up,

And it was only 8am.

One of Allen’s friends within the group (Was it Serim? He wasn’t too good at remembering Allen’s friends names considering how many of them there were.) locked eyes with Woobin, pausing mid-step as he realised who exactly he was looking at, and moved forward to tap Allen on the shoulder of his crisp, dark blue jacket.

Woobin panicked, searching around the room for some kind of escape from his impending doom, knowing from how Allen was staring at him through the glass from his peripheral vision that soon he’d come over to talk about something and Woobin was not in the mental state for that.

The boy to his left, appearing somewhat taller than him, hunched over his schoolwork in concentration. Looked unfamiliar enough to approach for a favour without Allen knowing who he is, but close enough physically for Woobin to lean over the chair and whisper something in his ear.

“My ex boyfriend is about to walk into this library and talk to me, I’m not in the mood and I really need it to seem like I’ve moved on. Can you please pretend to flirt with me for just a minute?”

The boy dropped his pen on his work, turning to him, the curiosity in his eyes morphing into some kind of glint of mischievousness as they registered on Woobin’s face.

Fuck.

Koo Jungmo turned to face the doorway, watching as Allen reached for the door to pull it open, before shifting back to Woobin, a shit-eating grin on his face.

“You owe me, Seo.”

His hand left the table, finding itself resting on Woobin’s pant-clad knee as Jungmo leant closer to Woobin. Forcing him to get a real, good glimpse at the other boy for the first time.

Jungmo’s eyes were pretty, longer in a fox-like angle. His face was sharper, more pointed than Allen’s, his nose sloped into a harsher, pointed angle.

This was a mistake.

“What’s going on here?”

Woobin swallowed, his mouth dry, his eyes shifting between Jungmo and the desk, the grip on the book in his hand tightening. He turned slightly, managing to make out Allen from the corner of his eye.

This was the first time he had seen him, let alone so close, in weeks.

“Hey Ma, I was asking my lovely friend Woobin here,” The hand on his knee tightened, “about some math questions. Not like it has anything to do with you, though.”

He watched as Allen’s gaze dropped to where Jungmo’s hand rested on Woobin’s leg, his lips tightening in a scowl before directing his attention to Woobin.

“Hi, Woobin.” Allen offered, trying to direct Woobin’s attention towards himself.

Woobin stared down at the table, freezing up as Jungmo’s hand lifted from his thigh and wrapped around his shoulders, adding to how small he looked already curled in on himself.

“Look, Allen, buddy. Fuck off.” He stroked some of Woobin’s hair out of his eyes, barely ghosting over his skin. “Woobin’s clearly moved on.”

Woobin looked at Allen, fully taking in his ex boyfriend before him. The way he stood, towering over the two of them as if he had some kind of moral high ground when he was the one who ended the relationship. He lifted his arm, his hand finding itself on Jungmo’s shoulder for some kind of leverage.

He felt sick, really sick. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go, he was supposed to be moving on already, it was only a few months. Whatever the hell he had originally planned to happen with Jungmo – maybe Allen to fuck off? – was not working and his eyesight began to blur, his nose stinging slightly, and he fought hard to keep the tears from spilling out.  
Woobin felt Allen and Jungmo staring at each other. They weren’t enemies for nothing. It was a mistake to ask Jungmo for help out of everyone, especially because the two of them had resulted to default enemies as a result of the petty drama between the two basketballers.

Allen sighed, his arms falling to his side with a thud, a mutter under his breath as he stalked off, clearly pissed.

He faced Jungmo, whose smug smile vanished at the sight of Woobin, and the way his eyebrows furrowed and eyes softened with concern did wonders to Woobin’s aching heart, “Are you okay?”

Woobin nodded, swallowing dryly as he released his grasp on Jungmo, avoiding his gaze to stare at his schoolwork, a lump forming in his throat. “I’m fine.”

The warm hand on his leg left, a scorching mark where is had laid now embedded in his memory. For a moment, Woobin wished it had stayed, wished Jungmo pulled him close, rubbed his back reassuringly and told him everything was alright. Jungmo had made Woobin feel more secure than he had in a long while, and stability was the only thing he needed right now when it was the one thing he prided himself on.

Jungmo seemed to sigh as he turned away from Woobin, collecting whatever he had sitting on the desk. “The bell’s about to go,” he said, the chair squeaking as he stood, bones popping as he stretched, “see you around, Binnie.” Jungmo ruffled his hair.

Woobin glared at Jungmo under his eyelids, trying to appear more pissed than he’d actually felt. Ignoring the loud heartbeat he could hear throbbing in his ears.

He watched Jungmo’s fading figure, how he walked without a sound from the library into the corridor. He looked down at his notes, shutting it and packing up his school work, feeling his shoulders drop as if a weight had been lifted.

What had he gotten himself into now?

\--

Woobin walked through the swinging doors into the cold gym, Seongmin bouncing beside him with anticipation, barely able to contain his excitement. He couldn’t care less about basketball, nor the sweaty – albiet somewhat attractive – annoying guys who played it, but him and Hyeongjun’s teasing of Seongmin’s ‘mysterious’ crush was incredibly entertaining, and it had taken a lot of spluttering, red ears and shifting glances for Seongmin to ask them to see the basketball game with him. In return for letting Seongmin watch his pretty boy crush, he’d tell them who the boy in question was.

Turning towards the bleachers, he saw Hyeongjun smiling at them from where he sat, in the bang centre of the top of the seats, perfect to watch the whole game, hot chips and soda balancing on his legs, wobbling dangerously. The gym stank, smelt like sweaty socks and showers of deodorant and _boys_ , and it was not an ideal atmosphere – when Seo Woobin thought of cute boys, the ones he’d admire or have crushes on, he did not think of the sporty kind.

They climbed up the stairs towards Hyeongjun, Seongmin’s excitement practically bursting out of him as he ran towards his other best friend.

Hyeongjun giggled, “Seongmin, you okay?” handing him the greasy food as Seongmin plopped down beside him.

He bounced in his seat, slapping his hands against his legs as he faced Hyeongjun, “I’ve never seen him play a match before!” he exclaimed, his eyes shining with anticipation.

Woobin shook his head, smiling to himself at his friends shenanigans as he brought a fry to his lips.

From the corner of his eye, he saw him, some boy standing out against the crowd of basketball.

He was dressed in long black pants, a white tee tucked into the waistband, held in by a leather belt, running across the court in black shoes that definitely weren’t basketball shoes, a black duffle bag bumping against his hip as he ran into the ‘home team’ change rooms and out of Woobin’s sight.

Was he friends with someone who played basketball? Delivering his brother his bag? Surely nobody in an outfit like that plays something as grotty as basketball, alone turns up to a game in _that_.

“Hey Seongmin,” Woobin turned to face him, “do you know everyone who’s on the team?”

Seongmin shook his head, “Nope!” his ears began to turn red as he lowered his face to his chest, a bashful smile appearing on his face, “I don’t really know basketball, I’m just here for M-“ he covered his mouth, his eyes widening.

“C’mon Seongmin, we’re here now, tell us who he is.” Hyeongjun begun to poke him in the side.

“No! That ruins the fun!” He whined, swatting Hyeongjun away, “Watch the game and find out for yourselves.”

Woobin rolled his eyes, smiling at the stupid antics of his friends.

Cheers began to erupt within the stadium, the boys turning in confusion as they watched the two teams emerging from the lockers. One, exiting the ‘Away’ door, wearing two shades of blue – The Monstas – and the other, from the ‘Home’ door, cream and a dark purple – Gravity. The ridiculousness of the anticipation for high school basketball was crazy, and it was all so boastful he wanted to leave already.

He scanned the team as they warmed up across the court, pretending he wasn’t subtly checking them out, masking it as searching for whoever the hell Seongmin had been raving about for months on end. Was the boy from before here? They all looked so similar from a distance, it was hard to tell with the uniforms. Who was Seongmin’s crush? One boy caught his eye, dribbling the ball across the court. Dark hair, sharp eyebrows, thin lips with piercing eyes, not forgetting to note how incredibly tall he appeared even from this distance. Was that him?

Hyeongjun squealed from beside Woobin, “Is that him?”

“Shh!” Seongmin covered Hyeongjun’s mouth, glancing around nervously to see if anyone noticed the outburst.

Woobin leaned close, “Which one is it, Hyeongjun?”

Hyeongjun smiled smug, pointing his finger towards the court.

“That really tall one. Right, Seongmin?”

Seongmin cringed, folding in on himself, “Yes, oh my god, stop being so loud.” He pleaded, grabbing Hyeongjun by the shoulders and shaking him, his eyebrows furrowing, face contorting as he whined to him.

Hyeongjun turned to Woobin, nodding with an evil glint in his eye, “What’s that guy’s name again? I can’t remember it for the life of me. Minho? Donghee?”

“Beats me.” He replied, holding in laughter.

Seongmin mumbled something under his breath from where he sat squished against Hyeongjun, his cheek pressed into his shoulder, his lips pouty.

“What?”

“I said, Kang Minhee.”

Hyeongjun smiled, pinching Seongmin’s cheeks affectionately, “Aww, cute.” He swooned.

Woobin, turning away from his friends shenanigans, diverted his attention towards the ongoing game before him. Watching as the Minhee kid effortlessly ran across the court with ease, darting between players and waving his long limbs around for the ball, his hair sticking to his forehead with dripping sweat as he intercepted the ball from the dark uniformed opposition, dribbling it down the wooden court as he approached the goal. He watched in awe as he passed the ball to a teammate, how the rubber bounced off the polished floorboards, avoiding the other team as it landed in the grasp of player number 26.

Was this that boy from before? The one in the aesthetic outfit? Woobin was somehow drawn to him the same way. The way he smirked at Minhee, somehow shorter than the other boy, and yet, an even better player. His red sneakers skidding across the wood as he dodged the players, his toned arms tensed and incredibly attractive, jumping around in a purple uniform that stuck to his chest and made Woobin begin to imagine to himself just how nice it would feel to lay on the chest of someone that muscular, despite his preference for lankier guys. The boy – number 26 – jumped up towards the hoop, nailing a goal by a sliver of a thread as someone on the opposition just barely grazed the ball to knock it in the opposite direction.

“My god, Woobin, who has been graced to be the victim of you staring at so intensely?” Seongmin questioned, resting his head on Woobin’s shoulder to match his gaze.

“Oh, is that Allen Ma? Number 26, right?”

Allen.

He tested the way the name sat in his mouth, rolled it around with his tongue.

“Who’s Allen Ma?” Woobin tried to play it cool.

Hyeongjun leapt at the chance to butt in, pushing his head between Woobin and Seongmin, “He’s like, the best basketballer in the school. Good luck with that one, dude. I think he might be straight.”

“Wait, isn’t Ko Jungmo the best?” Seongmin said.

Woobin cut in before Hyeongjun had time to respond, “How the hell do you guys know all about this stuff but I don’t? Hyeongjun you hate basketball even more than I do, and that’s saying something.”

Hyeongjun shrugged, that evil glint in his eyes, “I have my ways.”

Soon enough, the game came to a close. 70 to 30, the opposition team never even stood a chance. Woobin and Hyeongjun had practically forced Seongmin to walk down to the court, shoving him down the stairs, joining their peers in cheering on the winning team.

“Hi-hi? You’re Kang Minhee, right?”

Woobin watched like a hawk as Minhee turned to face Seongmin, his eyes widening slightly as they registered on Seongmin, his cheeks turning a faint pink.

“Yeah? Hi? You’re Seongmin, from class 1-3, right?”

He smiled to himself, turning away to give the two some privacy, content at his and Hyeongjun’s efforts and how they’d paid off. Ready to talk – or rather, gossip – to said friend when he realised he’d completely disappeared from view.

“Hey, you lost?” A voice asked from behind him.

Woobin spun around, confused, and felt the air rush out of his lungs as his eyes settled on the boy standing in front of him.

“Uh, no, I’m just, uhh, looking for my friend.”

“Oh, maybe I know him?” he offered, tilting his head to the side, his dark hair plastered to his forehead hanging just barely over his eyes.

He saw the bag hanging over his shoulder, a black duffle bag, felt his pulse quicken at the realisation.

Woobin scratched behind his ear, trying to appear indifferent “Song Hyeongjun?”

Allen’s eyebrows furrowed, god he was so much cuter up close.

Wait, what?

Cute? Allen Ma?

Woobin’s cheeks grew hot as he caught himself staring, and instead directed his gaze down at the ground.

“I haven’t seen him, sorry.” Allen offered, pausing for a moment before speaking again, “What’s your name, by the way?”

“Woobin, Seo Woobin.”

\--

“Seo Woobin, what the ever living fuck did you do?” Seongmin demanded, his tray setting down on the table in front of Woobin with a loud thud.

Woobin swallowed his tteokbokki, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion, “What on earth are you on about?”

“Apparently you’re dating the one and only Koo Jungmo?”

He choked on his rice cakes, reaching for some water to quickly relieve himself, “Me? Dating Koo Jungmo? You’ve gone mad if you believed that for even a second.”

“I dunno man,” Seongmin began as he spun his spoon around in his bowl of soup, “Apparently it was something along the lines of getting back at Allen for the break up.”

“Dude.”

“What.”

Woobin squeezed his eyes shut momentarily, staring down at his food with dismay, “Do you really, actually think I’m that petty?”

Seongmin shrugged mindlessly, avoiding Woobin’s piercing gaze.

He sighed to himself. Yeah, he was jealous, jealous of Seongmin and Minhee who had managed to continue dating while he and Allen hadn’t, despite beginning their relationships around a similar time. And yeah, he was fucking pissed that Allen didn’t seem to be at all affected by the breakup. And yeah, he wanted to play into the façade, make Allen believe he was alright, like his heart wasn’t breaking in two at almost everything that reminded him of the other boy, like he had moved on and he was fine, but by god he wasn’t going to rush into a new relationship. Yeah, he asked a random stranger – who happened to be Koo Jungmo – to flirt with him, but he wasn’t going to start anything new when he was still torn up about whether or not he was over Allen yet.

“Did you make out with Koo Jungmo in the library?” Asked Hyeongjun as he slid in beside Seongmin at the table.

“Jesus Christ NO.” He rubbed his face in his hands, defeated, “Where the hell are all these rumours stirring up from?”

Hyeongjun shrugged, biting his chopsticks, “Beats me, man. Just heard some girls whispering about it when I was making my way over. Good job though, dude. Like, out of everyone you’d end up with after Allen, you’d hope you at least had enough self respect to pick someone who wasn’t Jungmo.”

Woobin looked up, between Hyeongjun and Seongmin, finding himself watching straight ahead as Allen stared back at him from across the cafeteria. His hands grew clammy, his mouth filling with saliva, he knew that stupid idea had worked, Allen really believed Woobin had moved on. And god, it looked like he had heard every rumour in the book.

He watched as Allen’s eyes teared away from Woobin, how they began to darken, his jaw tightening, lips pursed like he always did whenever he was pissed.

Woobin whipped around, facing where Allen was staring, finding himself face to face with the male school uniform, tilting his head upwards to find Jungmo staring straight ahead at Allen, his gaze unreadable, before shifting to Woobin, his whole face softening at the sight of the boy.

“Hey.” He mused as he sat down beside him, their legs brushing together slightly.

“What are you doing?” Woobin hissed, becoming self conscious and concerned as he noticed more and more people looking at them, their whispering echoing throughout the cafeteria.

“Well, I said you owed me, didn’t I? I figured the least you could do was give me somewhere to sit at lunch. You know, with actual people and the lot?”

Wait, what?

Everything suddenly clicked into place.

For years, Jungmo had never been present at lunch. Like everyone else, Woobin always assumed it was on the basis of his dedication to basketball – to always practice rather than enjoy relaxing with mates. But when thinking about it, him and Allen were essentially archenemies, and with pretty much the entire basketball team sitting beside Allen at lunch each day, it made sense for him to have nowhere to go.

Fuck.

“Hi Jungmo!” Seongmin waved, amusement on his face as he made sly eye contact with Woobin.

Woobin scowled, trying to drown out the outside chatter brewing at his lunch table to rather focus on his meal. In the five months him and Allen were together, he never sat with them. Minhee did, sometimes, but still somewhat rarely. This wasn’t, of course, to compare Jungmo to Allen, to judge who was better or vice versa. Just a simple observation in the moment.

A hand found itself resting on Woobin’s thigh, towards his knee. Discreetly enough to not let anyone else notice besides the two of them – a little - personal - secret for them to share.

He looked at Jungmo, the boy sitting barely taller than him, with his sharp eyes and long nose, his head thrown back, mouth open in contagious laughter at some stupidly funny thing Hyeongjun said. His hand never leaving it’s spot on Woobin’s leg, almost as if it was stabilising him.

“Woobin, are you alright?” Hyeongjun said, hiding his mischievous smile behind his hand.

Woobin blinked twice, leaving his trance with an exhale as he turned towards his friend, trying to make his fidgeting hands busy with his eating utensils.

“Yeah, of course. Just zoned out for a minute,” he blinked again, “Sorry.”

Seongmin cut in, seemingly eager to gain Jungmo’s attention once again, “As I was saying, last game you guys played, you were incredible! Right, Woo-I mean, Hyeongjun”

Woobin bit his lip nervously, felt as Jungmo’s palm inconspicuously rubbed his thigh reassuringly.

He hadn’t been to any of the games in weeks. What was once a weekly ritual had now dissolved to nothing. He couldn’t watch, not after all that shit that happened with Allen, he couldn’t bare to watch him play again. The mere thought of basketball just screamed Allen too loudly.

Allen, Allen, Allen.

The bell rang out through the cafeteria, a shrill warning of the end of lunch. Woobin balanced his utensils on top of his tray, ready to stand, stressing out over Jungmo’s hand keeping him situated.

“Here.” He mumbled under his breath, barely a wisp that Woobin could caught, and was barely prepared before Jungmo handed him a small slip of paper, standing as if nothing had happened.

As if he hadn’t burnt a warm hole into Woobin’s leg.

Woobin slid the paper into his pocket, standing up with his friends to dispose of the trays to be cleaned.

It was only when he finished, when he left the drama of the cafeteria and the piercing gaze of Allen behind, did he finally remember to pull out the note, to unfold it and read the  
contents inside.

**‘XXX-XXXX-XXX Call me  
\- Jungmo’**


End file.
